Welcome to the Asylum. This is a site devoted to politics and current events in America, and around the globe. The THREE lunatics posting here are unabashed conservatives that go after the liberal lies and deceit prevalent in the debate of the day. We'd like to add that the views expressed here do not reflect the views of other inmates, nor were any inmates harmed in the creation of this site.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Two Stories From The Grand Canyon StateYes, Thomas and I live in Arizona (a state that Thomas fondly refers to as "just another seven-letter word for Hell). Espresso Pundit, AKA Gary Patterson who also resides here had a blockbuster story yesterday that gained little attention in Arizona's dinosaur media. As a matter of fact, only the East Valley Tribune carried the story. It seems that Governor Janet Napolitano has some 'splaining to do. From the East Valley Tribune yesterday (no link as the digital archive is accesible only to paid subscribers, but I have the story in front of me):Len Munsil's gubenatorial campaign wants an investigation into what its lawyer says may be "illegal coordination" between Janet Napolitano's re-election campaign, a non-profit corporation, and two political committees.On Tuesday, Attorney Douglas Drury said the Project for Arizona's Future has backed the efforts of the Arizona Conservative Trust, and the Arizona Values Coalition.The latter two groups have paid for attacks -- including automated phone calls and a website called www.lenmunsilfacts.com -- on the Republican nominee.Thjat's leagal as long as they eventually disclose the source of their funds, and how they were spent.But Drury said there is evidence the Project for Arizona's Future has assisted the two groups even though the organization is set up under a section of the Internal Revenue Service that prohibits it from endorsing candidates.Drury noted in a 25-page complaint to the Citizen's Clean Election Commission there are several potential links between Napolitano and the Project for Arizona's future.If the complaint is verified it could signal a violation of the state campaign finance laws, which bar a publicly financed candidate from being involved in an effort to spend non-public money to attack a foe.And there is this from Mr. Patterson (There is no "permalink" icon on the site, so I cannot give a link to only his story. I am cut-and-pasting this directly from his site):Last March, I commented on Project for Arizona. That's the secret organization that was ostensibly established to advance certain issues--issues that were remarkably similar to Napolitano campaign issues. The Project has disclosed that it plans to spend upwards of $3 million but has steadfastly refused to disclose its donors. In March, I raised this concern.

Of course, if the real goal is to affect elections not issues then the current structure, leadership, secrecy and timing of Project for Arizona's Future makes a lot of sense.

If the real goal is to affect the election, I sure hope that none of the money they are collecting is from corporations or unions. What with that being a felony and all.

Of course, we aren't going to know that until it's too late.

Maybe will learn the truth after all. Munsil has filed a 25 page complaint with the Clean Elections Commission. The circumstantial evidence is extraordinary. If you are a political junky, the complaint is a must read.

The Arizona press corps has stood meekly while Project for Arizona has refused to list its donors, but Clean Elections has subpoena power.

I think this is about to become a huge.

Here's Howie's take on it.The Citizens Clean Elections Commission is investigating a web site which attacks Len Munsil, an inquiry that could mean additional cash for the Republican gubernatorial hopeful respond to it.

But the critical part of the story is not that there is an independent campaign that is targeting Munsil yet not disclosing its sources of funds. The story will get huge if the apparent links between these organizations and Project For Arizona's Future pan out.

Here's Munsil's press release.

Today the Munsil for Governor Campaign asked the Clean ElectionsCommission to investigate the relationship between the reelection campaign of Gov. Janet Napolitano, a non-profit organization for which she has raised funds, and two political committees that have fraudulently represented themselves as conservative and have been attacking Len Munsil with lies and distortions.The Munsil campaign has uncovered evidence of an interrelationship between all four entities in use of personnel and resources that appears to be an elaborate money laundering scheme to evade the spending limits and reporting requirements of the Clean Elections financing system.

Nowicki has good coveragehere.Now, we are not supporters of Governor Napolitano. She is like any other wishy-washy Left-leaning Democrat. This woman failed in her job as Attorney General of warning then-Governor Jane Hull of the possible legal repercussions of the Alt-Fuels legislation that was passed through the Ariznoa Legislature. For those unfamiliar with this scam, the legislature gave people vouchers to convert their cars over to natural gas vehicles. What they did not realize is because the group making the conversions was not approved of, or supplied by auto dealers, the moment the retrofit was made, it made all those car warranties null and void. People who bought into this naturally sued the state. Thank you, Goivernor Hull; thank you Janet Napolitano.We dislike this woman's idea of handling border security. She harrassed the Minuteman project who was assisting the Border Patrol in its endeavors to catch illegals coming into America. She set a record for vetoes by a governor of the state (as of May 31st this year, she had vetoed 31 pieces of legislation, including a border/immigration reform bill by the state legislature). This woman also dragged her feet on a duly-passed voter referendum known as Proposition 200, which enforced the election laws; dictating to all votrers in the state that they had to present picture ID at the polls, and proof oc citizenship. That fiasco dragged on for months before the State Supreme Court ordered her to follow the law. This woman is a disaster, and if this pans out that she violated election laws, she should be removed from office, or not permitted to run for reelection.The second story revolves around the Arizona 9/11 Memorial at Wesley Bolin Plaza in downtown Phoenix. Let me direct readers to Flopping Aces which has photos of the site. We could care less about the design (yes the crescent shape of the roof is annoying) but what is most appalling are the tiles that are illuminated throughout the day by sunlight. Those tiles include things that accuse this nation of war crimes, and on a tile that shows the various acts in the world that have led us to war, there are a series of dates. Those dates are as follows:May 7, 1915 (The sinking of the Lusitania, which DID NOT get us involved in World War I; it was a precursor and a reason for the war to start.)December 7, 1941 (The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Empire.)August 4, 1964 (The phony Gulf of Tonkin attack that President Johnson used to get his declaration of war from Congress in Vietnam.)September 11, 2001 (Unless you are living in a Taliban cave, you know what this one is seeing as how we just marked the fifth anniversary of that attack.)The '64 and '01 dates are in the same line, which seemingly draws a Leftist parallel between Presidents Johnson and Bush; a sort of "they both lied to Congress" veiled accusation. WE, the taxpayers of Arizona, paid for this kind of crap. And what galls me more than anything is that these people went ahead with this project without consulting the public. A more appropriate set of tiles would have been the names of those who died, and their families left behind (minus the names of the animals that carried out the attack, of course). As we are Arizonans, we are incensed over this blatant attempt to color this nation responsible for the actions of nineteen murderous pieces of garbage from the Middle East. And if this is any sign of what the New York Memorial might be like, then I say there should be no memorial there. Forget the reflecting pools. Forget the stupid hall of peace, or whatever they call it. Just bulid the buildings back, taller than before, as a symbol of defiance to our enemies. I am sick of seeing this politically-correct garbage from the PC police. Stick these idiots in a closet where they belong. Maybe then they will not be so "offended" by the nation that gives them the right to sound like @$$holes.